How do you clean everything off of a hard drive?

David_L6

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I have a hard drive that came in a pre-built (Dell) computer that has OS (and no telling what else) already installed on it. How do I get everything off of it so that I can use it as a second hard drive (for storing pictures and such)?
 
What OS are you planning on using as your primary?

Do you have a HDD with that OS already on it?

How do you expect it to boot? This is almost a trick question, what Im getting at is it is very difficult to move an OS HDD to a new PC without MAJOR driver issues, even if you were to boot it in safe mode and update the drivers...

So what exactly are you trying to do it sounds to me like you ahve an exisiting HDD with OS and files on it, and you want to use the new one for storage... Please tell me if I have this correct
IF it is... then it is easier to install the old HDD in the NEW machine as a secondary HDD or slave, and have the one that came with it remain as the OS/boot HDD... then transfer any files you want to keep, to the new HDD, format the old one, re-transfer them back, and your done...

Hope this helps...

Mike A!
 
I think you are right mlakrid....

Dell PCs are little bitches to clear. I mean an XP CD makes short work of it... but I always have little issues here and there.

He could slave it on another PC and formateroo.
 
From what i understand you have a computer with hard drive 1 on it and it is running your OS (probably XP), and you have a 2nd hard drive the DELL hard drive. If you want to erase the DELL harddrive and install it onto your computer for data storage, follow the directions in the link below. If i have assumed wrong, then do not do the below steps. If you do not have WIN XP, state which OS you have and we can find you a guide for that OS.

http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/howto/install_xp_disk_mgmt.html

edit: You will not have to initalize the drive, you will erase the partiton, create a new one, then format, or just format. (Do a quick format to save you time)
 
celticfan11 said:
From what i understand you have a computer with hard drive 1 on it and it is running your OS (probably XP), and you have a 2nd hard drive the DELL hard drive. If you want to erase the DELL harddrive and install it onto your computer for data storage, follow the directions in the link below. If i have assumed wrong, then do not do the below steps. If you do not have WIN XP, state which OS you have and we can find you a guide for that OS.

http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/howto/install_xp_disk_mgmt.html

edit: You will not have to initalize the drive, you will erase the partiton, create a new one, then format, or just format. (Do a quick format to save you time)

You got it! Thanks.
 
mlakrid said:
What OS are you planning on using as your primary?

I already have a drive with XP Home running on the computer.


mlakrid said:
Do you have a HDD with that OS already on it?

Yes (see above).



mlakrid said:
How do you expect it to boot? This is almost a trick question, what Im getting at is it is very difficult to move an OS HDD to a new PC without MAJOR driver issues, even if you were to boot it in safe mode and update the drivers...

On the hard drive that it is booting on now.

mlakrid said:
So what exactly are you trying to do it sounds to me like you ahve an exisiting HDD with OS and files on it, and you want to use the new one for storage... Please tell me if I have this correct
IF it is... then it is easier to install the old HDD in the NEW machine as a secondary HDD or slave, and have the one that came with it remain as the OS/boot HDD... then transfer any files you want to keep, to the new HDD, format the old one, re-transfer them back, and your done...
I have 2 hard drive with exactly the same thing on them. I want to clean everything off of one of them.

mlakrid said:
Hope this helps...

Mike A!
 
celticfan11 said:
From what i understand you have a computer with hard drive 1 on it and it is running your OS (probably XP), and you have a 2nd hard drive the DELL hard drive. If you want to erase the DELL harddrive and install it onto your computer for data storage, follow the directions in the link below. If i have assumed wrong, then do not do the below steps. If you do not have WIN XP, state which OS you have and we can find you a guide for that OS.

http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/howto/install_xp_disk_mgmt.html

edit: You will not have to initalize the drive, you will erase the partiton, create a new one, then format, or just format. (Do a quick format to save you time)

LOL, this is basically what I had said to do...

Im confused though

How do you have the same image on two hard drives?

is it on a raid setup?

You never answered the previous questions...

if you format the HDD in the new comp and use the HDD you had, you are going to run into major issues...

good luck...

if you have 2 hdds in the SAME NEW computer and you format one you probably just destroyed all data on both drives as it was probably a raid...

either way... good luck

you should really post more information if you want the correct analysis of your problem and its solution
 
mlakrid said:
LOL, this is basically what I had said to do...

Well yes, but i gave him a nice webste with a pictured tutorial, in case he is a noob. :)
 
mlakrid said:
LOL, this is basically what I had said to do...

Im confused though

How do you have the same image on two hard drives?


I used Norton Ghost 2003 to copy everything from a 40GB SATA hard drive to a 74GB W.D. Raptor hard drive.

mlakrid said:
is it on a raid setup?

No.

mlakrid said:
You never answered the previous questions...

if you format the HDD in the new comp and use the HDD you had, you are going to run into major issues...

good luck...

if you have 2 hdds in the SAME NEW computer and you format one you probably just destroyed all data on both drives as it was probably a raid...

either way... good luck

you should really post more information if you want the correct analysis of your problem and its solution

I don't know what else you want me to tell you.
 
Ok either i'm totally missing the point here or everyone else is.

i'm assuming you want to put a new hard drive in as the primary and the dell one as the secondary.

If this is correct, it's very simple. (i do it almost every day with dell machines)

1) Just put both drives jumpers to CS (cable select).
2) Put the new drive (raptor) on the master connector, (the last one on the ribbon)
3) Put the dell drive on the middle connector
4) Make sure the machine is set to boot from CD
5) Boot the dell machine, install new xp o/s onto the raptor drive.
6) Once all is installed you can either a)format the second (dell) drive within windows by simply right clicking on the drive and doing a format, or by going into disk management under admin tools in control panel. Or simply delete the folders you dont want, up to you,

Or if you have already ghosted the raptor drive (which you say you have), follow the above points, ignore 4&5

Whats the big confusion here guys... jeez.
 
David_L6 said:
I used Norton Ghost 2003 to copy everything from a 40GB SATA hard drive to a 74GB W.D. Raptor hard drive.

This is what you should have said...

LOL... then yes you have your directions.

Just a word of caution, you may have several reboots as your comp has to adjust for the hardware changes... and this sometimes can get ugly... the steps I had listed are better for doing this sort of thing...

Fresh install on a blank HDD and then copying over whatever you want...

I hope it works out for you.

Mike A!
 
lancer said:
Ok either i'm totally missing the point here or everyone else is.

i'm assuming you want to put a new hard drive in as the primary and the dell one as the secondary.

If this is correct, it's very simple. (i do it almost every day with dell machines)

1) Just put both drives jumpers to CS (cable select).
2) Put the new drive (raptor) on the master connector, (the last one on the ribbon)
3) Put the dell drive on the middle connector
4) Make sure the machine is set to boot from CD
5) Boot the dell machine, install new xp o/s onto the raptor drive.
6) Once all is installed you can either a)format the second (dell) drive within windows by simply right clicking on the drive and doing a format, or by going into disk management under admin tools in control panel. Or simply delete the folders you dont want, up to you,

Or if you have already ghosted the raptor drive (which you say you have), follow the above points, ignore 4&5

Whats the big confusion here guys... jeez.

QUOTE: "I have 2 hard drive with exactly the same thing on them. I want to clean everything off of one of them."

EXACTLY, but if you look back up to where I first posted, he had never said he ghosted the first drive... he said it was a NEW comp and wanted to put in ANOTHER drive...

That was MY confusion...
 
If you would like to completely wipe your drive and erase all content, download the attached zip file, and copy all the files within that zip file to a floppy disc. Then boot from the floppy disc and at the prompt type:
Code:
wipe.bat
Follow the then given instructions, i will add however the more "passes" you make, the more chances of a complete wiped drive. It is accomplished by formatting the drive and then overwritting the drive with a random algorithm, the number of passes is the number of times this process is completed. Recommended number of passes is 7. warning this process can take a very very long time to complete.
 

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sorry mlakrid, thought you saw it, i was like what the hell is so difficult here :)
 
mlakrid said:
QUOTE: "I have 2 hard drive with exactly the same thing on them. I want to clean everything off of one of them."

EXACTLY, but if you look back up to where I first posted, he had never said he ghosted the first drive... he said it was a NEW comp and wanted to put in ANOTHER drive...

That was MY confusion...

I really don't see where it matters that I ghosted one hard drive to another and I never said that it was a new computer.... Maybe I should have worded it like this?: I have a functioning computer. I also have a hard drive that has OS installed on it. I want to get everything off of that hard drive so that I can use it for extra storage in my already functioning computer.

I thought my original question was simple enough. How do I get everything off of hard drive that already has junk on it so that I can use it as a second hard drive. (What if I wanted to give the hard drive that I am not using to someone??? I'm not, I want to use it myself.)

Appears that it's not as simple as I thought that it would be though.

I didn't mean to cause any confusion. I just asked how to go about doing what I want to do.
 

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